OLDHAM'S three MPs are split over whether to back Tony Blair as he edges ever-closer to taking Britain to war against Iraq.

OLDHAM'S three MPs are split over whether to back Tony Blair as he edges ever-closer to taking Britain to war against Iraq.

MPs Phil Woolas and Michael Meacher both supported the goverNment's stance in a vote in the House of Commons last week which was essentially a last warning to Saddam Hussein.

But Oldham councillor David Heyes, also MP for Ashton, who was absent, said he would have voted against the government had he been present.

In the largest revolt within a governing party for more than a century, 121 Labour MPs rebelled to vote for a cross-party amendment that the case for war was "not yet proven".

Phil Woolas MP, Oldham East and Saddleworth - who is a whip responsible for rallying government support in parliamentary votes - described the vote as a "warning shot" from MPs.

He said: "There appear to be mixed signals coming from Hans Blix's weapons inspection team. If they report that Iraq is not co-operating then we may find the number of MPs behind Tony Blair would then increase. We will have to wait to a couple of weeks to see what the implications of the next UN Security Council vote are and the House of Commons vote that will follow it."

And Mr Woolas was critical of MPs who voted in favour of the cross-party amendment.

"Last November we were all praising Tony Blair for getting the United States to go through the UN before acting. I think it's disingenuous of people to vote against him now."

But David Heyes MP, Ashton-under-Lyne, said he was concerned about the apparent reluctance to seek a full and proper mandate from the UN.

"Without their legal sanction I am very uneasy", he said. "I am, however, happy that is not to be the final vote in Parliament. As we move closer to possible conflict the cases become clearer in people's minds and we will need another vote. In my view the number of rebel MPs may increase considerably."

Mr Heyes added that many MPs had voted with the government of out of loyalty.

"I understand that", he said. "But many may change their minds when the final decision comes. The sense of unease is that this agenda was determined many months ago by the US."

Mr Heyes said he would have voted for the cross-party amendment but had to attend the full meeting of Oldham council that night.

We tried to speak to Michael Meacher but his office would only refer us to his appearance on BBC TV's Question Time, in which he said: "This was clearly a major revolt which will be taken into account. Saddam Hussein clearly still has weapons of mass destruction. The UN has passed 17 resolutions against him in the course of the last 12 years and horrific human rights abuses are still going on."

Chairman David Dimbleby asked: "In your Oldham constituency do you think there is a majority in favour of what you have been saying?" Mr Meacher said: "I don't know. And no one knows the state of opinion in their constituency because I don't suppose anyone has carried out a detailed poll."

Oldham's Stop The War organiser Laurraine De Melchor said: "It just goes to prove the anti-war movement can be a success - we can stop this government leading us into what will be a devastating war."